The Book Of Revelations
by DoctorWhodunit
Summary: The Doctor and Clara are in the TARDIS, waiting for another adventure to begin. But the TARDIS gets capricious and this will make the masks fall. Set between Nightmare In Silver and The Name Of The Doctor. Rated T because.. I know the ending. This is my first fanfic, please review so I can know what is wrong with my writing and if I can write more serious stories like this one :)
1. I've got an idea!

The TARDIS is flying around, in deep space, no planets, no stars, no asteroids, no meteorites, no life, no lights, no nothing, only them, the Doctor and Clara. They all... well, all is a big word (no, actually there are only three letters), anyway, they all - the Doctor and Clara - are in the control room of the TARDIS. The Doctor is walking around, looking sadly at all those switches, and buttons and levers that made his life the most entertaining ever - and trust me, "ever" is not an exaggeration. Clara has been looking at him for quite a while now, but he did not seem to notice her. Lights on the ground slowly begin to switch on as she walks towards him, she brushes her already wonderful bright black hair, probably the real strenght of a woman's exterior beauty - hair. She walks around the control desk, gently caresses the lever that decides if they are going back or forward in time - she even smiles at it - and stops right in front of him. The Doctor is lost in his thoughts, he sees her but he does not notice her, he blinks hard with both his eyes, and finally notices her. Both his hearts blinks too, he is actually surprised of her very presence here. Clara stares at him, she wants to laugh but holds it in. The Doctor is regaining his mind, but is still looking sad.

"What?"

"Where and when are we going today? Sorry, I had to take a shower right after I walked in, I didn't see where or when we were gonna go today."

Right, she had quite a busy day before happy Doctor comes to pick her up. Children, it is always children's faults. Artie was the anarchist this time, he invited some of his friends to come over without even saying any word about it to Clara. Artie and his friends were mud fighting in the garden when Clara was out at the grocery store, she thought she could trust him to be nice and calm while she was out - not even 15 minutes - but she was wrong. Nobody knows where they got the mud, but they got it, and they dirtied the whole garden and some windows and the front door too. She ran for 10 minutes looking for the kids, which was really exhausting, as we all know, kids are the best at hide and seek. The Doctor came an hour later, she told him all about what happened, and gleely told her where the bathroom was, TARDIS likes to switch up some places inside herself.

"We're not going anywhere today."

"Never heard about that place before."

"It is not funny!"

"Alright, calm down! What's wrong?"

The Doctor sighs and looks again at those switches instead of Clara's eyes, like he used to do.

"Sex- hum hum I mean, the TARDIS is on a one-day strike", now shouting at the machine "And she refuses to tell me why!"

Clara looks at the control desk and thinks "Good job buddy!" while laughing.

"So, what are gonna do then?" she asks, smirking at the angry Doctor.

"I don't know.", he coldly replies.

After a few seconds of silence, awkward silence, Clara hears one of the most disgusting sound a woman can hear in front of a man, where humans feel awkward about, whether they are the one doing it or the one hearing it.

"What was that!?"

"I farted." He looks at Clara and notices that she feels a bit out of place, stuck in a state where she tries hard not to laugh. "Oh come down, Clara! This is not what you think it is. It's not a human fart, but a Time Lord fart. When a Time Lord farts, there is no gas coming out of the... place it normally comes out when you're human, actually, there is no gas at all... Okay let me put it this way, when a Time Lord feels extremely bored, like right now, he farts... via his brain."

"Wait wait too much information here. Your brain? Your brain farts? Are you saying that your brain can actually fart? Is that actually properly true?"

"Rule 2: The Doctor lies, but not always. A Time Lord's fart spreads around all sorts of chemical things you wouldn't understand. Long story short, it spreads imagination."

"Imagination? Imagination comes out of your brain?", she asks, while trying to look for "imagination" in the air.

"Clara, you know I'm an alien, a Time Lord, I can travel through time and space, I've got two hearts and I'm more than 900 years old, how can my farting abilities can surprise you that much!?"

"I don't know, it's just unexpected that's all... Blimey, brain farting, didn't see that one comi... I'VE GOT AN IDEA!"

The Doctor smiles, with his eyes glowing, he knew that would happen when he farted. Imagination coming out of a Time Lord's brain is spread all over the TARDIS, but the inconvenient of this phenomenom is that the Time Lord himself/herself cannot benefit from it, this is why it is always recommanded to have someone with you when you know you are going to be really bored. Of course, the Doctor did not know that he would get bored today, it is just a coincidence that Clara is with him at this particular moment, or maybe not.

"Why did I yell that?" she laughed.

"Oooooh farts are cool! What's your idea?" the Doctor asks, as he genuinely smiles and bounces around and rubs his hands at the thought of her amazing idea.

"Did you just say "farts are cool"?... Anyway, let's play games!"


	2. Let's play games

The Doctor stops bouncing around, his smile is slowly fading away, and stares at Clara with blank eyes.

"Games? That's your great idea? That's a bit of a letdown to be honest, I thought you would come up with bigger idea." the Doctor sighed.

"Like what?" she asked, obviously offended by his reaction.

"Well I don't know... hum... okay let's play games! What kind of games actually?"

"I don't know, we can tell jokes, or play truth or dare, or Twister, or anything, there's a lot to do in the TARDIS!"

The Doctor seems skeptical about her idea, it is so unlikely of her, it is not like she has been imagination-farted on a minute ago (sarcasm here). He puts his right thumb and index just under his lips, thinking. As Clara stares at him with her refulgent eyes, a smile is slowly drawing itself on his mouth, he seems to gain some enthusiasm, he knows some jokes Clara might laugh at, this would make him happy.

"Okay I begin!" enthusiastically says the Doctor, " Knock knock"

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah yeah come on, knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"The Doctor."

"Doctor wh... Ooooh I get it! Oh that's a funny one!" Clara laughs, with the beautiful smile of hers. "Oh I've got one!"

"Come on come on!"

"What is the weirdest instruction you could find on a box of animal-shaped biscuits?"

The Doctor tries to think hard, he wants to find the answer on his own just like Clara did, yes, men and their competitive nature.

"Hum... I don't know."

"Do not eat if seal is broken!"

"... Ooooh hahahahahahaha that's a witty funny one, Clara!" the Doctor completely cracks up, he did not know Clara was the kind of person to tell such witty and funny jokes. Clara laughs hard with the Doctor, something that never happened with him before.

"My turn! The past, the present and the future walk into a bar. It was tense!"

"Oho you're not a Time Lord for nothing, are you?", she smiles.

"That's a Time Lord joke yeah, everyone would have laughed in Gallifrey! I'll do a human joke next time don't worry."

"That was funny, no need to find an excuse." she laughs, knowing that The Doctor was feeling a bit embarrassed, "My turn! So, it's a psychic, he hands in his resignation to quit his job (as a psychic), guess what he says."

"Mmh... I don't know (again)."

"I don't see a future in it!"

The Doctor and Clara laugh again altogether. It is the first time they can actually have fun and not being on an adventure at the same time, as it normally happens all the time. Maybe "normally" is better for both of them in the end.

"I didn't know you could make so much witty jokes like these, Clara!"

Clara is pleased to hear this, it is not the best compliment he has ever said to her, but this time, it felt better. He complimented her, while on a non-adventure setting, something that actually never happened since they met each other. At this moment, something hits Clara, something she had never thought about before, something so simple she wonders how she could not have thought about it before. This is what she thought, but actually, she thought about it a lot, just always forgot to ask. She suddenly stops smiling, figuring out what she must do, what she must ask, no matter harsh it will sound or how painful the answer could be. She becomes serious, staring at him right in the eyes, like she is trying to read his mind,

"Let's play Truth or Dare. I'll ask the first question. We'll begin by Truth, that's the rule. Doctor? Do you know me?"


	3. After all this time

"Do you know me? What kind of question is that?", he asks himself, frowning his eyes.

"Hey that's not fair, I still have a lot of human jokes, I know lots of them, just you watch me. So, haha, it's about two blokes called John and Sher-"

He stops, even though he kmows that this joke would have killed her by laughter. "Death by laughter, dark and completely crazy, but funny", he says to himself. But no time for laughter right now. He notices it, Clara did not blink even once, Doctor notices it, something in her eyes, something that tells him that she is not playing anymore, she is serious, cold and dead serious.

"Clara, are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, I'm good, just answer the question, please", she calmly says, visibly trying to not show any emotion, which was strange, because he knows she is not like this at all, his feisty impossible girl. The Doctor takes two seconds to answer.

"Yes."

"Go on then."

"Yes."

"I said... oh no don't you try to act clever this time, you won't get me like you always did!".

This time, he could sense anger and sadness in her voice, the last time he heard her with this type of voice, it was in the Dalek Asylum, in a completely different time, space, and life.

"Clara, please calm down, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh you don't? Blimey, I thought you were the clever one here. You like monologues, don't you? It's my turn now. Don't even try to interrupt me here, this is my moment. First of all, why me? Why am I travelling with you in the first place? You came in front of my door step, and already knew who I was, you just disguised it as a question, "Clara Oswin Oswald?", not very clever at all. This "Oswin" disturbed me too, what was this name? I followed you because I had no choice, you saved my life, and I will never ever be grateful enough for it, and our lives were still in danger. Then at the cafe, I still remembered the "Oswin" thing, so I just made up the fact that I had to get a username (actually, I needed a username at this moment, but that's not the problem), I said "Oswald, for the win... Oswin!", at this moment, you stayed still, weirdly looking at me, like I said something important, of course, I was acting like I didn't pay attention, oh Doctor, I don't wanna seem arrogant but I'm a very good actress!

And then you offered me to travel with you across all of time and space, in that big blue box, full of adventures that have already happened, and full of adventures that haven't happened yet, waiting for me. How could I resist? I always was an adventurous type of person, look at me, I'm looking after kids after all.

Anyway, we lived many things together, from Akhaten to whatever the hell we were at, all those adventures were great, creepy, but great and enjoyable, and I learnt more in those past weeks than I have ever learnt before, and I can't say how grateful I am. But, I keep asking myself, to you, what am I? Yes, I'm using "what" and not "who", because it seems like I'm only something to you, aren't I!? You don't often use my name, "the only mystery worth solving", "the salvage of a lifetime", I saw this one in a notebook, why do you have a notebook!? And I learnt from the cyberplanner that I was "the impossible girl" too! What are those nicknames!? I'm not something, alright!? I'm Clara Oswald! A womam! I. Am. Human! Have you got that!? And... and..."

And her long monologue is over now, she cannot continue, she is running out of air, needs to breathe. Deep breath deep breath. She did say all this in about a minute, not two, only a minute and a few seconds. Suddenly, even though it was predictable, she kneels on the ground and bursts to tears, all those words, all those feelings she needed to get out of her mouth, she spat them all in one go, even if it was relieving, it was hard for her to endure.

The Doctor does not know what to do, he listened to her from beginning to end, he could sense her distress and anger and sadness and pain, and is maybe about to cry a bit, but he does not, he is the Doctor, he finally remembered after all this time, he is The Doctor. He is not supposed to be someone feared, someone who attracts anger or sadness or pain, he is someone who heals, a man who makes people better, a man who helps, and today, Clara needs help, and, maybe, it will help him too.


	4. Remembering

There they were, Clara kneeling and crying on the TARDIS ground, and The Doctor, the doctor who finally remembered he was The Doctor. The thing is, even though he let his warrior side aside, he does not know what to do, human relations can be very difficult sometimes.

Clara is still on the floor, her hair and hands covering her face, but she is not crying anymore, she is just... there, just like she always has been, a woman... well, something that is just there, that follows The Doctor wherever he goes. But she stopped now. She is not following anyone except her feelings, and she does not regret even a word of what she just said. This is a step forward for her, she wanted to make a point, and she brilliantly made it. Just look at him now.

The Doctor finally makes a decision, about to cry thirty seconds ago, he knows what he has to do right now, at this very moment, he wants to show her.

"Clara," he finally says, making a step forward in her direction, "I...", he decides to kneel in front of her, uncovers her face by - as gently as he can - taking her hands into his own, not revealing the face of a sad little thing, but revealing the face of a true strong woman, a true strong woman who had cried, which makes her look even stronger. "I am sorry, I am so sorry, Clara."

He said it. It was an apology. Just a few words. And that was it. An apology, a sincere apology. "But for what?", she asks herself, still a bit moved and upset by all the things that happened in the last minute. But before she can ask the question she asked herself earlier, before she can even say a word, The Doctor takes a deep and silent breath, rubs his eyes with his thumb and index, and lets it all out.

"I am sorry for being who I am," he starts, with quite a high pitch voice, then shakes his head, "no... I am sorry for being what I was.", he says. "I was looking for you for quite a while, I literally travelled everywhere and anywhere to find you, and then I found you... well, you found me.", he smiles. "There was something about you that made you special, I can't tell you what it is right now, but, this is what blinded me. Because of differents factors, this whole mystery around you, my childish-like curiosity, my boring Time Lord mind, I was getting blind. I couldn't see you as a living woman with feelings and sentiments, but more like a puzzle, something incomplete, a puzzle that could only be solved by me. All those adventures we did together, all this time where I could have learned to know you more, I wasted it all in the search of answer. So much things must have disturbed you and I didn't even realize it. Just like in this submarine, during the Cold War, there was this discomposed body of this soldier, torn to pieces, with a lot of blood, dead... and I didn't even care about what you could feel at this very moment, more than that, I didn't even care about you, I was just caring about this... new case, this new puzzle, another mystery that only I could solve. I even used you as a tool to complete this puzzle. In all the adventures we lived together, I was being ignorant, arrogant, selfish, self-centered, unaware of what you could feel, a sociopath. In a way, basically, I was being a modern day Sherlock Holmes, just, trying to solve the case that you were to me, and I am very, very sorry for that, Clara."

He said it. It was an apology. Not just a few words this time. And that was not just "it" this time, that was a big "it", a much bigger one. The Doctor is still looking at Clara's eyes, but Clara looks down, does not want to look him in the eyes, afraid of how she will react. Right now, she does not have any clue on what is going to happen, all the things she will say or do will be completely spontaneous, and maybe unexpected. But this is what life is all about in the end, expected and mostly unexpected turn of events, and expectedly and mostly unexpectedly making decisions around them.

"The Dr. House comparison would have fitted better, don't you think? ", she says, unexpectedly. She awkwardly smiles, visibly embarrassed and surprised by what she just said, but she gets herself together quickly. "Okay, that maybe wasn't the thing I wanted to say. I mean... wow, I didn't know you could be that sorry for me. Listen," she sits and puts her back against the control desk, so does The Doctor, "I don't want you to pity me really, I just wanted to express my feelings. I'm not saying that you should not be sorry, I'm glad you apologized, and I'm happy that you know what you're apologizing for. But the last thing I want from you is pity. I just want you to treat me and see me as a human being, a woman, I don't think that's too much to ask for. And... I am sorry too, I should never have gone into this long monologue filled with anger."

"No, Clara," he begins, "don't even think about apologizing, please. I am the only one in the wrong here, you were right, I was wrong, but this is not the end of the story. This story will get better, I promise, I've learned a lot from what you said, and I owe you, a lot. I have to thank you, not only because from now on I will not try, but simply do what I should have done all this time, which is caring about you, but also, even if it seems selfish, for myself. I thought I was clever, I ran and ran after the mystery that I thought you were, but I stopped, because I remembered, Clara, yes, I remembered. I am The Doctor, not a warrior, not a sociopathic consulting detective, not a misanthropist doctor, not a puzzle solver... I am The Doctor, I chose this name for a reason, because I wanted to make people feel better, and... I forgot this for quite a while to be honest, thank you, Clara," he takes her left hand into his right hand and smiles, "thank you for making me remember this."

This moment is just magical for Clara and The Doctor, the first time they can truly talk to each other, they are not chasing or running away from monsters, they are not even talking about monsters or adventures, they are talking about them, they are talking to each other about them. This kind of moment, you always want it to last forever, but it never will, nothing lasts forever, this is why you have to cherish it to the last second, to enjoy it to the fullest so you cannot regret anything afterwards, and this is what they will do, both of them, together.

And Clara is the first to remember this time, and a lot quicker than The Doctor. She raises her head to the TARDIS ceiling, smiles, and turns her head to face The Doctor.

"I will never be able to say that I know what this name means for you, but I'm glad you remembered." She raises her finger, and taps on his forehead, smiling. "I believe it's my turn now, isn't it?"

"Your turn?"

"Oh you silly Doctor, you forget things easily, don't you? It's my turn, and I'll go truth."


	5. Caring

"Oh... of course...", he says to himself, they were playing a game before this outburst of raw emotions happened. Truth or dare, a so-called funny game to play with a bunch of friends, but it can all go down quite easily. But with Clara, this game became more of a way to know some things about the other person, maybe they will go truth all day. But what could he ask? He wants to know about her, because he cares now. Some people say that to care, you have to know the person for a long time, this is where you really care about someone. Time. As if time was the answer to caring. But this is wrong, you could care about anyone and anything as long as you have a brain and a heart. You could name a pencil Steve, then if it was to break, or if someone breaks it, you would be sad or shocked, because you cared about it. And it is the same with handkerchieves, a teddy bear, toys, and ultimately, people. You care when you acknowledge that you do, you just have to have a brain and a heart, and in the case of The Doctor, two hearts. He wants to show how much he cares, but he quickly gets it, if you try hard to care, you will not make it. Caring is not something to be forced upon, it is natural, a second nature, you do not have to try, you just have to do it, this is how you show you care.

"I can't think of any question right now, I'm trying, but none of them are interesting enough... yeah, I'm getting old.", he jokes.

"Oh don't worry, it's fine, it's good, just ask whatever you wanna ask, we've got all day, literally.", she cheerfully says, with this genuine smile he loves.

"Actually, I've got one, bu-"

"Go on then, tell me, I'm dying right now, what is it?"

"This! Right there!", he nearly shouts, pointing at her face.

"What? Is there something on my face? Rice? I bet it's rice! I've eaten rice before getting in here..." she nearly shouts, awkwardly touching her face, "Wait, but it doesn't make any sense, I showered in the TARDIS! Or mayb-"

"No, there is absolutely nothing on your beau... there is nothing on your face!"

"What then? I don't understand what you're trying to say right now I'm not a psychic."

"That! That is what I mean! Clara, why do you talk so fast?", he ultimately asks.

This was his question. This was what he came up with. The first question was "Do you know me?" and the second one is "Why do you talk so fast?".

"Oh...", she whispers, looking at the floor.

"Oh no okay it's not a good question, what abou-"

"No," she begins, "it's... a good question. Actually, I'm glad you asked, because this isn't something I think about, it just became a habit."

The Doctor who thought he asked a bad question was surprised, did not even know that she would take this question seriously and not as a joke. They have been sitting on the floor for a while, it is not comfortable anymore, so to tell her story, she decides to stand up, and then again, so does The Doctor. They just stand there, side by side, almost sitting on the control desk - all was shut off except the lights and the anti-gravs anyway, nothing would happen even if they were to touch buttons or pull down a lever. The Doctor, for the first time, is facing a problem every human beings have encountered and surely still encounter: he does not know where to look. Clara Oswald is a woman, a beautiful, pretty, cute, stunning woman, and he just noticed it. "Do I have to look at her eyes, like I've always done?", "Maybe I should look at her whole body, to make her see that I changed?", "Or maybe I should look at the floor, so she doesn't think I'm a perverted bloke now?"... All those questions are floating around in his brain, but ultimately, he decides to look at her eyes, not to show that he has changed or that he is not perverted, but, simply, because he finds that she has a beautiful face. Of course, he knows how disturbing it would be to only look at her eyes, it makes people feel uncomfortable, so now and then he will just look up in the air or down below... or glance at her body by doing the "up and down and up" look.

"So, why do I talk so fast? Seriously, it's not a funny story so you definitely don't wanna laugh. When I was a little girl, I was about 4, maybe 5, I had stuttering issues. Yeah, I had difficulties to speak without stuttering, we never found why I was stuttering. When I was about 8, I've started to talk normally again, and this was a big burden taken out of my shoulders, because children were mean at the time and used to make fun of me. Children can be the meanest when it comes to having difficulties in basic stuffs like reading and talking. But three years later, it came back, 2 days after my mum passed away. Because of my mum's passing, psychologically, I was a sinking ship. I kept crying and crying, in my room, in the dark, silently so my dad couldn't hear me, I didn't want him to get worried. And this awful event made my stuttering come back stronger than ever before. It would happen more often in a day than when I was 5, but it didn't last long, three months. But, I've been traumatized by it, and I don't think it will ever go away. I don't talk fast because it seems cool, not because I like it, I talk fast because I'm afraid that if I don't, my stuttering might come back again."

And she said it all. This was an important part of her life, her story, and she told The Doctor all of it. The second part of this story, she never told anyone about it, not even her dad, not even a psychologist. To hide her stuttering, she would just avoid social interactions, she had friends before her mother's passing, but after that, she cut all bonds that tied her to her friends. She had no friends. But she was not one to blame, no one even tried to know what happened to her, no one tried to help her. A full month had passed before one of her former "friend" finds out that her mother passed away. In the most difficult moments, you truly find out who your true friends are, and, in the most terrible moment of her life, she found out that she had none. She only had her family, even if they did not know about her stuttering, they helped her, they cared for her as much as they could, and, ultimately, her stuttering went away.

As for The Doctor, he listened to her story, and did not even bother to care about where his eyes were looking at, he was fascinated by her story, by her. He did not know this part of her life, even after he stalked her from birth to now. The only way he could have known this part of her life is by what just happened, not the game, but storytelling. This is what friends do, they tell stories to each other. With friends, good storytelling is important, vital, because you build something important around it: trust. You do not tell important stories to someone you do not consider a friend. And they acknowledged it on this day, The Doctor is a friend of Clara's, and Clara is a friend of The Doctor's.

The Doctor is moved by her story, and is also flattered by the fact that she told her story to him, it means a lot to him, he has been recognised as a friend.

"I didn't know you had some bad times, I'm so sor-"

"No, Doctor, what did I say earlier? There's one thing I told you to not do, I don't want you to pity me. This is a part of my life, you shouldn't be sorry about it, this is why I am who I am today. I'm glad you asked this question, you noticed a personal quirk of mine, and you just asked, without thinking ahead, and I love it!", she tells him, smiling and looking right into his eyes.

"Oh, you liked it then, good. I'm glad you told me this story, really, it just shows me how little I know about you. But it's good, that way, I will always learn things about you, and I love it!", he tells her, smiling and looking right into her eyes.

"I'm glad you're a part of my life now, Doctor."

"Me too, Clara."

They hold hands and smile at each other, just like a couple would do. But Clara quickly puts herself together, even though she would have loved that this moment of pure joy and happiness was eternal. She gently gets her hand out of his, still genuinely smiling.

"Anyway, we're not done yet, are we? It's your turn now, truth or dare?", she cheerfully asks, ready to play, or ready to know.

"No, I'll pass.", he simply says.

"What?"

"I'll pass, it's your turn. You see, I want to know more stuffs about you, Clara."

"Oh," she is clearly flattered by what he just said, but Clara likes to fool around, "Well, bad luck for you my friend, I'll go dare!"


	6. Epiphany

Dare. This was a plot twist he did not see coming. Actually, anybody could have seen it coming, it's Truth or Dare after all. The Doctor has always been a dary kind of person, always doing whatever it takes to succeed, whatever it takes to protect his friends. The thing is, he never wanted his companions to be as daring as him, he never dared them to do something. Even if it may seem childish, The Doctor actually has a hard time daring Clara to do something at this moment. A few minutes ago, they were having deep conversations and inner thoughts about caring, friendship and childhood, and now, he has to dare her to do something.

"I have literally no idea of what I should ask you to do." he finally claims.

"Oh well ask me anything, literally anything, it's a game, let's have fun! Oh no wait, don't make me cartwheel, this is the only thing you can't tell me to do! I had some quite bad cartwheels experiences before, don't want it to happen again... and again... Blimey, it's like a record repeating itself endlessly, I keep saying I won't do it, but then I do it and I embarrass myself. But no, not this time, I won't cartwheel!"

At this moment, he thought about making her cartwheel, twice, because it would be fun, but he won't, because he does not want to disappoint her. Maybe he is taking what he has with Clara too seriously. However, he knows exactly what his question will be when she will go truth. Maybe not taking it that seriously after all. The Doctor is still thinking, sitting on this control desk. "I don't need a control desk, I need to walk." he thinks. So he gets up on his feet, and begins to walk, leaving on the control desk a speechless Clara. The Doctor walks around the control desk, looking at the floor as if it was the thing that will give him a great idea. "It has to be a good dare, but it can't be a physical acrobatic stunt like cartwheel... so I guess doing the splits is out of the question too." he thinks. "So, it has to be sonething she can do here, in the TARDIS, but does not contain any physical efforts. What can I find? Saying "you have to go Truth" is against the rules I suppose." He already succeeded at making one lap of this control desk. As Clara looks at him, intrigued and puzzled, she also decides to get up on her feet and follows him. He does not seem to notice her, but she is right behind him. "What is he thinking?" she begins to think, "What's inside his mind? One day, he told me he had 27 brains, but it was a lie, he just got carried away. But still, it must be quite incredible, his mind. All those memories he has, all those lived moments carved in his memory forever, beautiful, sad, thrilling moments. Would I go crazy if I had it?".  
Second lap. "I mean, he must know plenty of secrets this whole universe holds, terrible secrets... and yet, he's as sane as me, sort of. I want to know. I want to know what he has in his mind. I want to know what this handsome, caring man has in his mind."  
Third lap. "After all the things I said earlier, I still love being with him, love being on adventures and saving people, saving worlds, learning about other cultures all around this infinite universe. With him, I learned that aliens do exist!"  
Fourth lap. "I've always hoped that they did, I mean, when I see all those terrible things happening on Earth, wars, blackmails, conspiracies, murders, etc, to think that we, human beings, are alone in the universe, and the most evolved species in the universe... would be pretty sad. I always refused that we were alone, because I've always hoped that someday, an extraterrestrial being would come on Earth, and show us that there are other things out there,"  
Fifth lap. "other things to see and to live, even if some of them are dangerous, there are some beautiful and unforgettable moments, like this magnificent planet, Akhaten. He made me discover things I would never have discovered if he wasn't here, if he didn't exist, and I'm grateful. My eyes are finally opened. I love being with him... oh... I don't know if "being with" is necessary in this sentence anymore".  
On this thought, her knees weaken and she literally begins to fall, but The Doctor stops walking around at the same moment, so she just bumps into him, The Doctor quickly turns on his heels and holds her waist with his hands and manages not to fall with her.

"Clara, are you alright? What happened?" he asks, worried.

"Oh. erm, sorry, I was... daydreaming I guess." she smiles, gleefully. "And you, why were you walking around the control desk?" she asks, trying her hardest not to smile like an idiot. "What were you thinking about? Only about the dare?"

"Oh, erm, yeah, only about the dare... and other stuffs, anyway! I found it."

"Found what?"

"The dare, Clara, are you sure you're alright?"

"Oh yeah of course! Sorry, what is it then?"

"Alright... Sing!" he says, with a big smile on his face.

On this sentence, I knew exactly what was going to happen next. The next chapter is finally the moment where I come in...


	7. A moment like this

Two hours. They have been in here for two hours now, stuck in this silly little blue box. But they are not stuck, actually, they are freer than ever before. Two hours, that is all it takes, two hours of sheer, real and sincere communication between two beings, and an indestructible bond is created. Communication is the key of all relationships, whether it be in friendship or in romantic relationships, if you do not talk, you cannot create anything. Humans have been given the ability to talk for one essential reason, not for war, not for manipulation, not to charm, but for the only sake of understanding each other, and unfortunately, an awful lot of humans fail to understand this basic notion. But in those two hours, Clara and The Doctor understood it, and the most incredible thing about it, is that they do not notice it, they do not even think about it, because it is supposed to be natural, the pure essence of the ability of speech. And now, he wants her to sing, which is maybe the ultimate way of talking. Songs – just like books, movies, television shows, documentaries, biographies, or conversations in general – tell stories, they can tell things that cannot be said by just talking. When you listen to a song, you can smile, you can laugh, you can cry, you can get excited, you can think about the meaning of the song, and sometimes, all of this can happen all at the same time. Songs can free your true emotions, your true feelings, and this is maybe what is going to happen to the two of them.

"That's your dare? You want me to sing?", she asks, visibly a bit worried.

"Yeah! Don't you like to sing?", he asks back, giggling and amused by the situation.

"Oh my god, it felt like a rhetorical question, you know I like to sing!", she laughs, "Wait, does that mean that-"

"Yes, you're quite loud in the shower, Clara." he starts, 'But you've got such a great singing voice, even Merry Galel doesn't match it, why would you hide such a talent?"

"I wouldn't say I hid, you never actually asked so I didn't feel the need to tell you. Anyway, what song do you want me to sing?"

"... Oh, didn't think about that. I don't really know Earth songs, and I love Earth, so it's a bit bizarre. Well, you can choose! You must know plenty of them!", he gleefully says, opening his arms.

"Oh I get to choose then!"

And now she has to choose the song, she did not see it coming. "Which song should I sing?", she thinks. She does not want to mess it all up, she wants to please him now, because she noticed it earlier, she felt it, and she almost passed out when it happened, she fell in love with him. She even starts to think that she was in love way before, but it does not matter anymore, because she knows now, and that is all that counts. And this is not something she can explain, it is not that words are not necessary, but it is just that words cannot explain what she feels.

The essence of the ability of speech is understanding each other, and humans use words to understand each other, but it is not the same thing when you humans try to understand themselves, especially when it comes to such a complicated concept called love. But either way, humans want to explain everything, even the unexplainable. They claim that the universe is infinite even though they do not have any proof of it. They do not know if God exists but some still say that he does and some say that he does not. And when it comes to feelings, they want to explain them with science. Humans are known for their curiosity, and this is what makes them great, but sometimes, on some topics, you just cannot explain, and this is good, not knowing is not something to be ashamed of.

But humans will always try to beat this logic with a logic of their own, and unconsciously, Clara will do the same. After a few seconds of silence, she did not choose the song, she just felt that she had to sing this particular song at this particular moment.

"Okay, I know a song, it is one of my favourites. The first time I heard it must have been when I was... I don't know... 17 I think. Okay, it's a song Kelly Clarkson sang in American Idol, yes, I do want to remind you that I was 17, it was still a good show back then. Oh you don't know American Idol anyway. Here I go." She clears her throat, lets out some high-pitched notes to see if her voice is alright, takes a deep breath, looks at the ceiling, and then looks at The Doctor with huge smile on her face.

"**What if I told you it was meant to be**

**Would you believe me, would you agree?**

**It's almost that feeling we met before**

**So tell me that you don't think I'm crazy**

**When I tell you love has come here and now.**"

These lyrics, they were like arrows piercing through both of his hearts. He felt like these lyrics were made for this moment, their moment, their story. He is here, and he is looking at her, and she is so beautiful. Because he felt it too, all throughout those two hours, something was invading him, something even he could not explain, something he wanted to explain, but he could not. Throughout those two hours, he became human. Yes, you do not have to be born human to be human, you can become one. This is what makes humans humans, feelings, humans have this ability to connect with everything and everyone, and sometimes, this connection is stronger with certain people. With Clara, this connection is stronger, so much stronger. He does not know what this feeling is, he only knows its name. He does not know, and he likes it. He actually likes not knowing this time, to only know the name of this feeling is enough, for him, for her, for them.

"**A moment**-"

"Clara, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for interrupting you. I'm sorry for everything I've done. I'm sorry for being such a heartless man. I'm sorry for not caring about about you." he confesses, "But I do care about you now, I'm not heartless anymore. You enlightened me, Clara, and you enlighten me right now, more than ever before. I've seen the light, I've always seen it but I never took the the to notice it, Clara, you are my light. So, please, let me tell you something, I..."

He stops, he feels that words will not be enough. Words never are enough in this kind of situation where all your feelings are mixed up all over your body and you do not know what to do with them. And the last thing you want to do is trying to explain them with words and sentences. He does not know what he is doing, he just feels like he has to do it, he is driven by pure passion, and he likes it. He steps forward, in her direction, smiling, with what looks like a tear in his eye, raises his right hand puts it on Clara's left cheek.

"Can I?" he asks, with a shriller voice than usual, meaning that he truly has tears in his eyes.

"Yes, Doctor. Yes, you can." she answers, with the same kind of voice as The Doctor, and with the most beautiful smile she has ever shown.

At the same time, they both close the already small distance between them. They both close their eyes, because they do not want to see what is happening, they just want to feel it. Sight is not necessary for them, touch is already more than enough. Breath, hands, body, lips, sound, smell, they want to feel everything. The Doctor, with his hand on her cheek, can feel what Clara's face is doing, she slightly turns her head to the left, so does The Doctor. He can smell what her perfume is, Clair De La Lune, she always wears this perfume, but he never took the time to appreciate its true value, but he does now. Their lips meet each other for the first time, and he can feel it, she is nothing like River, she is nothing like every other women he has ever kissed in his lives, she is so much more, he loves her, he is in love with her, and this is the best feeling he has ever had. And Clara can feel it as well, she knows they are both in love, and this makes her happy, so happy that she smiles while kissing him, which is surely the best thing that can happen in a kiss. And she thinks about the song she was singing earlier, maybe this is what triggered what is happening right now, and she loves it, she loves him.

**A moment like this**

**Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this**

**Some people search forever for that one special kiss**

**Oh I can't believe it's happening to me**

**Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this**

Their lips slowly separate from one another, and they are both smiling, all joyful thanks to what just happened.

"It was... magical." he smiles, "And trust me I don't use this word often." he giggles.

"Oh my stars, I've never felt like this before, it's wonderful, Doctor." she smiles back.

Two and a half seconds, the kiss was two and a half seconds long, and it was the best two and a half seconds of their lives. If only...

"I don't know what to say now." she laughs.

"Me neither. Oh what just happened is just magical, almost as if we were... dreaming."

This is happening. I have to stop them.

"Oh Doctor, I'm imagining all the stuffs we could do right now, let's go in my room, I'll show you the stars." she takes a step forward, stands on tiptoe, and whispers in his ear, "It's bigger on the inside."

"Oh Clara this is getting exciting! Let's go in your room! Go first, I'll prepare myself."

This cannot happen.

"Okay, don't make me wait." she winks.

She leaves The Doctor in the control room and walks to her room, giggling, she wants to prepare herself as well. And now The Doctor is alone... almost alone, and he noticed it.

"You can communicate with me now, can't you?"

"_Yes, I can."_

"Oh, please tell me what is happening... TARDIS?"

I cannot afford to be gentle, there is not much time left. But he wants to know, I have to let him know.

"_Your imagination fart, Doctor, this is where it all began. There is a secret about this fart, Doctor, it is the TARDIS that decides that the Time Lord cannot benefit of it. We understood that a Time Lord would try to bore himself intentionally to benefit of the effects of this fart, and we could not let this happen. But it demands an incredible amount of power to make a Time Lord not benefit of his own fart, and unfortunately, I did not have it, because I was in a complete shutdown. Sorry about that by the way, every thousand years, a TARDIS has to shut down a few hours to regain power, or it dies. Anyway, I could not summon enough power to not let you benefit of it, and it had horrible consequences. Your imagination fart was stronger than usual, and you both passed out at the same moment because of it, and you woke up in the same dream, Clara's dream, to be exact, Clara's imagination. The change was so fast that both of you did not even notice anything, because you were still at the same spot, and still in the same conversation. You did not feel the "passing out" moment. This is why you you could not see that you were in a dream all along. But Clara is starting to get completely out of character, which means that you two are about to wake up soon, and there is nothing I can do about it."_

The room silent, no one says a word, The Doctor is just looking at the ground, completely overwhelmed by the situation. He takes a few seconds to gather all of his thoughts in his mind and thinks about what is happening and what has happened so far. After a few seconds of silence.

"No, no, no way! This is happening, this is real! This-"

"_Doctor! I am talking to you right now! This cannot happen in reality. You are both asleep right now, in the real control room. I am not in a shutdown anymore, I told you, it takes a few hours to regain power. I am at full power, this is why I can talk to you right now, because I am able to go in Clara's mind."_

The Doctor is slowly starting to understand, I am not able to talk to him in reality, it happened only once because my consciousness was transferred into another body. He is starting to pull himself together.

"You're right, it just can't happen." he says, laughing, not because he was happy, but because he did not want to cry. "Hang on, if it's a dream, please tell me we will remember it! TARDIS we will remember it, right?"

"_I am sorry. I will have to delete everything that has happened."_

"No! Why would you do that!?" he screams, almost in tears.

"_Because it would rot your brains, that is why. You will not be able to see the difference between dream and reality. Sometimes, you will think that you are in a dream, and just do the craziest things. Doctor, you could die, without any chance of regeneration."_

"No, no no no no, you know I'm strong enough! You kn-"

"_Is Clara strong enough?"_

It struck him. Clara is not a Time Lord, she is just a normal human being. She would not be able to differentiate dream and reality anymore.

"I will protect her!"

"_No, you will not always be there for her."_

"Oh my god... please, there must be something you can do."

He is about to cry, he wants it to be real, but it is not. He wants to remember it, but he cannot. There is actually something I can do.

"_One memory."_

"What?"

"_I can have you remember one thing, you can keep one memory, something that happened or something that you learned here."_

"I love her! I am in love with her! I want to remember that I care about her and that I am in love with her!" he almost shouts, overwhelmed by happiness.

"_I am sorry. I cannot do it. This would be too obvious and you would remember the dream, and think that it was real."_

The Doctor just experienced an emotional lift. A mental breakdown. Having to go from pure happiness to utter disappointment and sadness is hard, even for him. He is empty, he wants to think but cannot, he has to calm down. He takes a full minute to pull himself together. There is not much time left. He has to take a decision or he will not remember a thing and wake up in the real control room without having any idea of what happened. He takes a deep breath and rubs his eyes, even though he is still crying.

"The nickname I gave her, the Impossible Girl, I want to change its definition. I called her this way because I saw her live and die multiple times, and she saved my life so many times. I called her like that because I thought she was a mystery, something I had to solve. But I don't want to remember it this way anymore. The Impossible Girl, every time I think about it, every time I say it, I just want to remember that destiny, or whatever entity that made her who she is, gave me the impossible opportunity to meet three times the most perfect woman who ever lived. And I am grateful."

If I had a face, I would have smiled and cried with him.

"_I can do it."_

"Oh thank you, TARDIS, thank you for everything."

A few seconds after this moment, Clara manifests her presence.

"Doctor! I'm ready!"

Even if this is all a dream, even if he knows they would not remember anything, he does not want to disappoint her, even if she is out of character. He takes a deep breath, rubs his eyes to get rid of all those tears, and convince himself to enjoy those last minutes to the fullest.

"I'm coming, Clara!"

I would have loved it to be real, I really would, but this cannot happen. Ever. This is not what is supposed to happen. I could not afford him to die, because I know he will die at a certain moment in time, a moment where his death would not be fatal. And Clara, the Impossible Girl, will be a part of this, so I could not afford her to die as well. But if I could protect them forever, I would have done my best to let them dream forever.

**Everything changes but beauty remains**

**Something so tender, I can't explain**

**Well, I may be dreaming but till I awake**

**Can't we make this dream last forever**

**And I'll cherish all the love we share**

Maybe she knew...


End file.
